When summer rolls around in Montreal, you can be sure of a couple of things: road works which send you off on complicated detours and festivals!
One of my absolute favourite festivals is the Mural Festival.
Two weeks to watch the artists at work and the murals emerge, and to wander up and down St Laurent without having to worry about traffic. And maybe visit the Breton crêperie or the Portuguese bakery or any number of coffee places or clothes boutiques, or the Enchanted Forest, a park taken over by yoga, dance, musicians and Lululemon for the duration of the Festival. I’d never realized before how very relaxing it is to listen to a yoga class but not actually do it!
Seeing as there’s not an infinite amount of wall space available, it’s inevitable that older murals get painted over. Or built over. I was sad to see this one has disappeared. For some reason it always made me laugh. It looked so realistic.
The old lady with the paint spray is a long time survivor.
New this year, this mural by Aydin Matlabiet. See the door?
Are these doors part of the festival? Or inspired door owners?
Afternoon shadows made this photo of the yellow door difficult! Very clever of Fido – you pose on the image on the ground and have a photo taken of your daring escape?/entry? on your cellphone!
Some non-door murals….
Jason Wasserman (Canada)
Richard Cavolo (Spain)
Sbu One (Canada)
Bezt (Poland)
No way can we forget Leonard Cohen in Montreal – Kevin Ledo (Canada)
*****
Enjoy doors from around the world at Norm 2.0 Thursday Doors
Susi Lovell 
I couldn’t get the mural festival this year but I remember it as a great event. I recognize some of the older murals that you posted here. I hope to get to Montreal in September or October. Rochester also has a mural event in July but it’s not quite as large and centralized as the one in Montreal. Street art in Toronto hasn’t got to that point yet. Murals have become quite popular which I think is a good thing.
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I’d like to see mural festivals in other cities. It must be hard to find an area where there are plenty of brick walls available! Montreal in September is lovely!
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Lots of cities are finally embracing the artistry of murals and it feels wonderful to be able to see these places transformed by amazing, often poignant work.
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Yes, I just love it. I wonder if Banksy has encouraged a more open attitude to murals in general and made people feel there’s a value to them?
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His work has certainly helped popularize the genre.
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These are amazing!! Love the latch! But really, they are all very clever. And what an idea – a mural festival! Very cool.
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Great street are and the festival sounds great.
janet
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The festival always makes me feel summer is really here!
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Awesome shots Susi. I haven’t been yet, but if the weather holds out we’re planning on taking a walk around there this weekend to check out the new creations. Half the fun is finding the doors hidden in the murals 😉
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You’ve probably got a better trained eye than mine! Hope you scoop some good ones!
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Wonderful collection of murals — and doors. What an inspiring festival! 🙂
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I wish I could have shown all the murals! At the moment they are all well signposted which means the ones in little alleys or a couple of streets over don’t get overlooked.
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I’m so happy that this sort of creative endeavour is encouraged. Thanks for sharing.
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Pity the images are so tiny and can’t be enlarged… 😦
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Are they all tiny? That’s odd. Anyway, I’ll make them larger right now. Thanks for the heads up!
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The Spanish one is slightly bigger.
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I’ve enlarged them all – can you let me know if they’re still too small please? Thanks!
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Jason Wasserman is slightly bigger now, the rest isn’t. Hard to spot any details. Sorry.
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Hm, not sure what to do. I don’t use a high resolution but they are all ‘full size’. Looks like I need to get some technical advice. Thanks again for letting me know.
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You’re welcome.
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Great murals and so lovely to see Leonard Cohen up there.
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Just a shame that they were working on his nose. I went back later to see if they’d moved but no… I can’t believe the steadiness and dexterity they have with those long-handled brushes!
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